Unit cell model of woven fabric textile composite for multiscale analysis

This paper presents a micromechanical unit cell model of 5-Harness satin weave fabric textile composite for the estimation of in-plane elastic properties. Finite element modeling of unit cell at mesoscopic level has been recommended over employing costly experimental setup for such sophisticated materials. The unit cell is identified based upon its ability to enclose the characteristic periodic repeat pattern in the fabric weave. Modeling of unit cell and its analysis for this new model are developed using an open source software, TexGen and a commercially available finite element software ABAQUS (R). The scope of altering weave pattern and yarn characteristics is facilitated in this developed model. Several parametric studies were carried out in order to ascertain the effectiveness of the model and to investigate the effects of various geometric parameters such as yarn spacing, yarn width, fabric thickness and fibre volume fraction on the mechanical behavior of woven composites. Present analysis reveals that the values of Young's and shear modulus increased with increasing in the fabric parameters such as yarn width and fabric thickness. On the other hand it is decreased when the spacing between the yarns increased. A good comparision was obtained between the predicted results and available experimental and theoretical data in open literature for the developed unit-cell model and its suitability is tested for multi-scale analysis. The potential advantage of the present scheme lies in its ability which permits the textile modeling from building of textile fabric model to its solution including mesh generation undertaken using an integrated scripting approach thus requiring far less human time than traditional finite element models. (C) 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.